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POLITICAL COLUMN

Refuse to be terrorized

This is a time for us to turn toward and not against our government, says Simon. | AP Photo

A short while after the explosions in Boston on Monday, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick held a news conference in the quite proper belief that flooding the situation with truth is the best antidote to panic-inducing lies.

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Question: “Why were the loudspeakers telling people in the audience to be calm moments before the bomb went off? Is this another false flag staged attack [i.e., like Sept. 11] to take our civil liberties …?”

Gov. Patrick: “No. Next question.”

The blood was not yet fully dry on the streets, yet the loonies were already at work, spreading the belief that our government exists not to protect us but to enslave and even kill us.

It is easy to look at the Boston Marathon bombing and believe we are entering a new era of fear. But it is not the first attack we have endured. Two I have already mentioned.

But don’t forget the fear of anthrax sent by mail once gripped this country, and we got through that. We also got through the Unabomber and Columbine and Virginia Tech and Aurora. Newtown and the slaughter of 20 small children we are still struggling with.

Guns and bombs are related. Both are weapons of swift destruction.

Congress is meeting this week to vote on gun control legislation. Even watered-down, even gutted of key provisions, it is in deep trouble.

And I fear the Boston bombings will set back gun control for three reasons:

First, some will say there are laws against bombing, but that didn’t prevent the marathon bombing and, therefore, laws against violence are useless.

Second, some will say we need to arm ourselves against future bombers. (Though this would not have protected anybody in Boston, where there was already a heavy, armed police presence.)

Third, a few will say government is the enemy and we must arm ourselves against the government.

Think that last one is believed only by wackos?

Here is a Ronald Reagan column from the September 1975 issue of Guns & Ammo:

“The gun has been called the great equalizer, meaning that a small person with a gun is equal to a large person, but it is a great equalizer in another way, too. It insures that the people are the equal of their government whenever that government forgets that it is servant and not master of the governed.”

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama said: “The American people refuse to be terrorized.”

I pray he is correct. This is a time for courage and resolve. This is a time for strength.

This is a time for us to turn toward and not against one another. This is a time for us to turn toward and not against our government.